08/19/2010

Diva Marketing Talks is a live, internet radio (BlogTalkRadio) show. 30 minutes. 2 maybe 3 guests. 1 topic about social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show? You can pick it up as a podcast or listen on your computer..

On today's Diva Marketing Talks we're exploring how a "traditional" interactive tactic .. eMail can be integrated with social media to produce more compelling campaigns.

Joining me as to talk about, what to some people seems a bit anti-intuitive, are Simms Jenkins, CEO, BrightWave Marketing and Morgan Stewart, Principal, ExactTarget's Research and Education Group.

Simms Jenkins is CEO of BrightWave Marketing, an award-winning agency specializing in email marketing and digital targeted messaging programs. BrightWave Marketing partners with clients in the development, management and strategic optimization of digital messaging programs that drive revenue, cut costs and build relationships. Jenkins has led BrightWave Marketing in establishing a top tier client list including Affiliated Computer Services (A Xerox Company), Chick-fil-A, Cox Business, O’Charley’s, RaceTrac Petroleum and Ted’s Montana Grill as well as leading advertising and marketing firms.

In 2010, Jenkins was awarded the prestigious AMY 2010 Marketer of the Year from the American Marketing Association’s Atlanta Chapter for being the top agency marketer. Jenkins is regarded as one of the leading experts in the email marketing industry and is the author of The Truth About Email Marketing, which was published by Pearson's Financial Times Press.

Jenkins is currently the Email Marketing Best Practices Columnist for ClickZ, the largest resource of interactive marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion, research, and reference in the world, online or off-. His industry articles have been called one of the top 21 information sources for email marketers.

Additionally, Jenkins is the creator of EmailStatCenter.com, the leading authority on email marketing metrics. Prior to founding BrightWave Marketing, Jenkins headed the CRM group at Cox Interactive Media.

Jenkins serves on the eMarketing Association's Board of Advisors and recently completed his tenure as a Board Member of Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA). Jenkins is a graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio and resides in Atlanta’s Brookwood Hills neighborhood with his wife and three children.

Morgan Stewart is the Principal ofExact Target's Research and Education Group. Morgan began his email marketing journey in 1999 when he managed the development of Pampers websites and email marketing programs across the U.S., Western Europe, and South America. Morgan came to ExactTarget in 2004 to launch ExactTarget's strategic consulting group, which he managed for more than 3 years. His true interests lie in demographics and studying how consumers interact with brands. He now serves as ExactTarget's industry expert on marketing trends across all interactive channels.

Considered one of the industry's thought leaders in interactive marketing research, Morgan is a regular columnist for Mediapost's Email Insider and frequently appears in industry publications such as MarketingProfs and iMediaConnection. His work has also been featured in leading publications such as Fortune, Forbes, Newsweek, Mashable, and AdWeek.

Twitter’s key strength is Influence and Interaction – the people that are most active on Twitter have huge voices across the internet and they want to interact directly with brand insiders

Facebook’s key strengths are Entertainment and Discovery - Consumers use Facebook because it’s fun to see what their friends are into... Which includes brands. Consumers don’t go on Facebook planning to interact with brands, but they consistently find new things that peek interest through friends.

Marketers need to understand and leverage these nuances in order to develop integrated and optimized messaging strategies.

Consumers do not operate in digital silos. Marketers can’t afford to operate in silos either.

03/20/2008

Diva Marketing Talksis
a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about
social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate
in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show?
You can pick it up as a podcast or listen on your computer.

Today's Diva Marketing Talks with Mary Clare Hunt author of In Women We Trust and founder of Ecolutionary Selling and Ginny Dyson, Sustainability Strategist at DMJM H&N to discuss how to use social media marketing as a grass roots strategy to education and promote a complex topic .. in this case sustainability standards and green marketing.

Mary’s background includes a rare blend of consumer goods and intangible services anchored with manufacturing processes. She’s created print, TV and Radio campaigns for a mega Mall, and also managed over 200 industrial accounts while with (now) www.ThomasNet.com. Mary is a “connector” who believes that every woman should have a blog and every business should read it. She debates social issues with her manufacturing engineer husband in Orange County, CA and lives online.

Ginny Dyson, IIDA, LEED APGinny Dyson is an interior designer with 20 years of experience in the Washington, DC market. In addition to projects for financial institutions, government and corporate faculties, she has been an active and contributing member of the sustainable design community.

In December 2005, Ginny completed three years of elected service on the board of the National Capital Region Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. She is also the founding chair of the IDA Mid-Atlantic Chanter's Sustainable Design Forum, a group that she started in 1999 to develop programs solely on sustainable topics. Ginny is an officer of the SMaRT Sustainable Product Standard Committee, an initiative of Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS). In addition to planning and outreach for these organizations, she has spoken to a number of audiences, promoting green building criteria and the LEED Rating System.

Ginny joined DMJM H&N in August 2003 to be part of the Pentagon Renovation Program Office and since September 2004 has been working in the Arlington, VA office in their newly established interiors group. DMJM ROTTET. She is currenty a full-time Sustainability Strategist, guiding all of the projects in the Arlington, VA office that are seeking LEED certification as well as a few projects for the other offices of DMJM ROTTET. She received a Bachelor of Interior Design from Louisiana State University's College of Design, School of Architecture and is a native of Northern Virginia. Ginny is a contributing author of the MTS Sustainable Products Blog.

Tips From The Diva Bag

Complements of Mary Clare Hunt and Ginny Dyson

Three Top Themes

1. Transparency – Can you see the proof? Blogland and Greenland come together.2. Authentic – Can you prove it? Blogland and Greenland come together again.3. Getting your message across. – Is your green story repeatable?

Develop A Credible Green Marketing Strategy

Get your product certified as Sustainable. You can’t claim you’re “Sustainable” until you do.

Use LCA, Life Cycle Assessment, Third Party Audits and of course Standards in your blog posts and links.

Partner with other bloggers and businesses who are Climate Change evangelists first and business people second.

Create ONE Summary Sheet of all green facts pertaining to your company and product. This isn’t a branding document, it’s raw data and the proof behind everything you say on blogs.

Take the word to the women who do 80% of the buying and word of mouth influencing.

03/13/2008

Diva Marketing Talksis a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show? You can pick it up as a podcast.

Today's Diva Marketing Talks with Yvonne DiVita, President and Founder of WME Books and author of the popular blog Lip-sticking and Deanna "Dede" Sutton, Editorial/Creative Director of Clutchmagazine.com. Clutch Magazine is the new face of the urban “it” girl appealing to every side of today’s multicultural woman. Join us to find out why when it comes to marketing to women, as Yvonne say, "Social Media: A Match Made in Heaven."

Yvonne DiVita is the author of Dick*less Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online, a book about getting those baby boomer icons Dick and Jane to buy at your website.

She is also the president and founder of WME Books.com, a division of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC. WME is an Author Services Company specializing in Print-on-Demand technology, blogs, and community building events. Yvonne’s background stretches to those bygone days of the early Internet, where she was a web content writer and worked in several technology start-ups. After publishing her book, she decided to become a publisher. Today her focus is on helping aspiring authors, especially those writing business books, make wise publishing choices, and works to help her authors market their books once they are released.

Yvonne is the President of the Rochester Chapter of Women in Communications; she is a past-president of the Rochester Professional Consultants Network, and is the VP of Web Communications at the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Deanna "Dede" Sutton

Deanna Sutton is the founder and creative/editorial director of Sutton Media. Sutton Media is the publisher of Clutch Magazine and Brown Fashionista (scheduled to launch May 2008). Since its relaunch last April, Clutch Magazine has become one of the leading online magazines for multicultural women ages 18-34. With a passion for all things social media, Deanna recognizes the power and opportunity that the new media platform presents. At Sutton Media, Deanna is responsible for business development, marketing initiatives, and editorial and creative direction.

Prior to launching Sutton Media, Deanna worked as an integrated marketing professional where she assisted in media relations, account management and other client activities. Some of her accounts included Sara Lee, Kroger, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Philips Consumer Electronics. Deanna graduated from Saginaw Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing.

Tips From The Diva Bag

Complements of Yvonne DiVita

Marketing to Women using Social Media: A Match Made in Heaven

Women are talkers - that's been proven scientifically with differences in brain chemistry (women's brains connect left to right more effectively making them better at communicating and remembering), which makes using social media a natural marketing tool for those in the know.

Women are the social creatures. They like being in the presence of other women - to learn about life, and family, and even finances. Social media is a natural fit for connecting. It drives word of mouth and it creates avenues of exploration not previously available to women. (more sharing, more comparing, and more questionning)

Marketing to women is very much different than marketing to men - NOT because we have different body parts, as so many assume. It's because we THINK differently. Once you get your mind around how we think, you begin to understand why we love using the net - it really lets us be us.

Complements of Deanna "Dede" Sutton

Use niche bookmarking sites such as Sk-rt in addition to Digg, Delicious and Furl to help connect with potential readers.

Partner with like sites/or brands to help spread the word about your product/service. It is a very beneficial tactic for both participants.

Don't under estimate the power of link building or adding. This will help raise your rank and exposure.

Social Media provides a very powerful and fresh platform for all, especially women make sure to take the time and research in order to position your self and your brand.

Can't call in but have a question? Drop a comment and I'll ask it for you. Let me know what you'd like Diva Talks to chat about. Don't forget Diva Marketing Talks morphs into a podcast.

02/05/2008

Diva Marketing Talks
is a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about
social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate
in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show?
You can pick it up as a podcast.

Today's Diva Marketing Talks is about an old world communication that meets new world buzz. Seems you can't turn a corner in the blogosphere without a blogger writing a book. I think of it as a side-step going from virtual to paper .. one more way to "time transfer communicate." Bet you thought time transfer was only about podcasts (smile).

Nettie Hartsock, publicist to authors (and more) and Sybil Stershic new author, dish about using social media to get the buzz going. Even if you are not a book author I'm betting a chocolate martini that there will be some hot tips that can apply to beyond books!

Nettie Hartsock is a veteran e-business journalist and PR marathoner! Nettie helps individuals, authors, and companies focus on creating, conveying and connecting their message to the world and creates actionable how-to-programs which establish a powerful base for attracting both blogger and journalists attention. Catch Nettie at her blog Hardsock Communications.

A graduate of Lehigh University, Sybil began her career in bank marketing. (The banks she worked for were merged into oblivion.) She launched her own business, Quality Service Marketing, in 1988 specializing in internal marketing and marketing/strategic planning facilitation. Sybil also conducts marketing workshops nationwide for business and nonprofit professionals and is a frequent speaker at national conferences.

Active in leadership and professional development, Sybil is a former Chairman of the American Marketing Association.Catch Sybil at her blog Quality Service Marketing

Be authentic, honest, timely and make certain that the blog you're reaching out to is one you're familiar with and have had the respect to read.

Ask not what a blogger can do for you, ask how you, your book or your product can benefit the blogger and its readership and then approach them in a humble and respectful manner.

Complements of Sybil Stershic

In Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most, I advocate the “3 Rs” – Respect, Recognition, and Reinforcement – as the foundation of internal marketing strategy. This is the same 3 Rs but in a different context.

Apply the “3 Rs” when dealing with prospective reviewers (both online and off-line).

Be Respectful of their time & workload (and understand they may not have the time to review your book based on your timetable).

Recognize their efforts by acknowledging their time to review and comment on your book (e.g., send a thank you note).

Reinforce their helping you with appropriate reciprocity (such as linking to their blog or website on your blog).

Target carefully & respectfully when contacting other bloggers as prospective reviewers, especially as many bloggers are already inundated with book review requests. If the book is of interest to me, and the request is sincere, then I’ll consider it. The one request that really ticked me off is the e-mail that raved about my blog and asked me to review a new book on internet marketing … despite the fact that my specialty is internal marketing!

Start with your existing relationships. I had great response to an e-mail I sent to my network of colleagues, clients, friends & family announcing my book’s release. It wasn’t a “buy my book” announcement, but a sharing of the good news with the folks who supported and encouraged me throughout the process. The e-mail included a special discount that they could pass on to the people in their respective networks who they thought might benefit from my book.

Can't call in but have a question for Nettie and Sybil ? Drop a
comment and I'll ask it for you. Let me know what you'd like Diva Talks
to chat about. Don't forget Diva Marketing Talks morphs into a podcast.

08/10/2007

A few weeks ago Paul Chaney and C.B. Whittemore joined me in a Diva Marketing Talk show (my new internet radio show) to chat about social media and vertical markets. Paul's focus is real estate and C.B.'s is on flooring.

This morning (11a Eastern) I have the pleasure of joining Michael Chaffin on his internet radio show - IndieHotlier to talk about another niche segment that is exploring social media - hotels and in a larger sense the hospitality industry. Stop by for a listen or click in for the podcast version.

I'm wondering .. what this means. Will social media marketing consultants focus on specific verticals?

11/10/2006

Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.

When you're on the road for business, eating alone seems more the norm than not. Most times I'm okay with that. I use the time to catch up on "thoughts" or people watch and write blog posts in my mind that will probably never find their way to Diva Marketing. But Girlfriend, sometimes it can be lonely and awkward.

And little did I know that Barbara Glanz's kindness would be a living example of her presentation - The Simple Truths of Service. Barbara is passionate about building customer loyalty through customer service. As Barbara told us, you can't mandate customer service. Excellent customer service comes from both the heart as well as the head. That usually doesn't just happen. The culture of your organization has to support and encourage Little Acts of Kindness.

I listened to her tell story after story of creative, but simple ways, people within companies engaged with their customers. Barbara tells people to, "Put you personal signature on the job."

Then there is Johnny The Bagger a young man who happens to have Downs Syndrome. Johnny puts a though of the day in every order he bags. Customers come into the store, patiently wait in Johnny's line, just to get Johnny's quote of the day. "Johnny brought his heart to his job. He focused on what he could do in
his daily work to make his customers feel special and their lives a
little better." Little Acts of Kindness.

Light bulb moment. This is so bloggy thought I. Why not incorporate
blogs into your customer service strategies? Why not have a Johnny The
Bagger Blog?

Ten Simple Truths of Service

1. Great Service Inspires Stories/Memories.Tip: Collect and record customer service stories

2. Great Service Uses Outside-The-Box Thinking Tip: Encourage and reward creativity and innovation

3. Great Service Is A Choice Tip: Understand the choices you have to engage with your customers. Teach employees to look for these touch points.

4. Great Service Starts With A Clear Vision

Tip: Management must first have a focused vision and be enthusiastic about the importance of excellent customer service.

5. Great Service Requires That Everyone Catch The Vision
Tip: Ensure that all employees understand and buy-into the vision

6. Great Service Surprises PeopleTip: Have fun. If you're having fun at your job it will spill over to other employees and your customers

7. Great Service Begins With Anyone Tip: Everyone in your organization is responsible for creating Little Acts of Kindness.

8. Great Service Goes The Extra Mile Tip: Give employees the authority to Serve customers without going through channels

9. Great Service Brings Customers Back Tip: Benchmark and monitor customer retention statistics

10. Great Customer Service Comes From The Heart Tip: Manage on both business and human levels

Bottom-line .. your customers have click-of-the-mouse choices. From the heart customer service builds stronger relationships and can differentiate you from your competition. Little Acts of Kindness .. works!

Lessons Learned: Let's take our cue from Johnny The Bagger. What little Acts of Kindness can you implement in your business that will make your customers feel appreciated and special? In doing so you will not only create a much needed point of difference for your business, but a memorable "signature." I'd love to hear what you're doing. Please drop a comment and share your experience.

Happy Friday Diva fans; this could be a very interesting weekend for many of us. The planets are lining up asking us to have a good time, Moon in Leo shouts let loose, play enjoy life from one corner with the other team of players in Scorpio wanting intensity passion and focus.

You may have plenty of homework to do on your business agenda but feel like throwing it to the wind until you are back in the mood. Set aside allotted time to focus and regroup your long term vision, then allow your inner child to come out and play.

The healthcare industry will have no choice but to engage and develop
social media if it is interested in helping people find accurate and
helpful information online.

Although there has been some dabbling into blogs, podcast and vlogs the healthcare industry, as a whole, as been reluctant to take the big leap into social media. Fard explains that part of the hesitation is a reflection a culture of tightly control of information.

In industries such as
pharmaceutical and biotech and hospitals which are all heavily regulated it is understandable that offering an open commincation forum may appear like a walk on the wild side. However, healthcare providers that have entered into this world
understand that providing an open dialogue is critical in educating
consumers of healthcare.

From Command & Control To Engage & Encourage examines two models of communication strategy. The traditional Command and Control where information is carefully crafted and messages are spoon fed to the media and other stakeholders in a more or less 'pure' form. Although this model may appear to increase the odds that what is communicated = what people actually hear, in the social media world, it no longer works. Consumers of healthcare are online searching, talking and exchanging opinions about healthcare products and services.

I agree with Fard'd position that it is fool hearty for healthcare organizations to bury their heads in the sands of denial. As in other industries, ranging from technology to packaged goods to services, no company controls their messaging or the brand experience. The internet changed the rules of the game. We're not in Dr. Kildare's world of the 1960's! The sooner healthcare providers shake off the grains of sand the sooner they can begin to use social media as a competitive advantage to build stronger relationships with their customers.

Fard offers a solution in a social media communications model he calls Engage & Encourage.

Engage & Encourage - A New Media Communication Strategy

Phase I - EngageAggressively working with influential developers of social media to encourage them to talk about healthcare issues, products/service

Conduct research to identify influential social media

Monitor the conversation www.boardtracker.com sphere.com

Phase II - Encourage

Collaborating with social media to encourage the accurate transmission of healthcare messages

Producing social media that will help enrich and expand online healthcare dialog

Stage I - Research Social Media & Develop Messages

Stage II - Engage Traditional and Social Media

Advertising on blogs, podcasts,wikis, bulletin boars

Public/social media relations - developing messages to journalists and creators of social media and encouraging them to tell your story

Posting Multimedia on a Video Sharing Website

Stage III - Social & Traditional Media Deliver Messages

Monitor mentions

Stage IV - Encourage Accuracy & Dialog

Develop your own social media e.g., blog, podcast, vlog, discussion board to help shape the dialog

Stage V - Measure Audience Response

Media coverage, advertising reach, audience response

In addition Fard encourages healthcare organizations to get into the game by producing their own blogs, podcast, videos, wikis an/or message boards.

The eBook is an easy read and offers tips on how to begin the development of a social media communication strategy. Although written for the healthcare industry the concepts are applicable to any industry. The end quote brings it home.

Remember, we may live in a new world, but the old rules still apply. Powerful communications has always been about getting people to pay attention and take action. The engage and encourage strategy is just another means of achieving the same objective.

Sidebar: Fard Johnson's definition of social media - The term social media refers to a group of technologies that enable people to collaborate, interact or meet via the internet.

05/19/2006

Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's
virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the
weekend 'playground' time to be sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just
plain silly.

Maxie
is very cute but cuteness doesn't always pay for the doggy treats. Sometimes I think little Max should be helping out with the expenses of his doggy chocolate kisses and cookies. I might have found the perfect gig where cuteness does pay. Old Navy is on a search for a new spokesdog mascot to star in ad campaigns and commercials.

All kidding aside, Gap, Inc. has created an innovtive and fun strategy that is attracting the attention of dog lovers online and off. You can nominate your pooch for the honor by submitting a photo on a special website. The site is loaded with games and pet information. Don't have a picture? Take Spot to a casting call where photgraphers will snap your pup.

Of course you want to see your dog in the cast of thousands so you click back to website. The technology falls flat at this point. It's almost impossible to find your dog's picture and the photos are not showing up. Very frustrating.

There's one more surprise and this is totally awesome. Coming back into the site <after submitting your photo> you are greeted with a splash page film about your very own pooch's adventure becomeing a star. How cool is that?

Diva's just for a giggle let's spin this and show The Gap how they could have included a little Web 2.0 magic and extended the buzz even further.

Make it easy to download the film. I'm betting we'd see a lot on YouTube, blogs and websites.

Mercury, the planet of communication and commerce is moving into its own kingdom of Gemini today. This position is excellent for getting your message out. What do you need to communicate about your business in order to connect with your customers?

The sun enters Gemini on Sunday giving a one two punch to communication, connecting, and sales. However because Mercury is traveling with the Sun, essentially hiding in the suns shadow, it is best to keep your marketing plans under wrap until you are ready to launch.

Monday is a daydreamer’s paradise, let your creative thoughts flow, and just remember to click the save button so your brilliance doesn’t disappear into never never land.

05/08/2006

With the addition of our
recently announced activities such as the new blogging community, we
expect that unique(site visitors) will continue to increase. Also we expect referrals
from Google and Yahoo Search to increase. Rich Battista, Chief Executive Officer, Gemstar-TV Guide International

It's not your mother's (or father's) TV Guide! Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc is an example of an old media company that is reinventing its brand with Web 2.0 marketing: a traditional publication (weekly magazine) that has wraped itself around a website and most recently an online community that includes blogs and podcasts. Next on the teeny tiny screen - TV Guide Mobile.

One of the major realities of today’s media landscape is that consumers
are accessing content and information in many different places; the
newsstand with the traditional print magazines, at home on TV, at work
or at home on their PC’s, and now on their cell phones and other
wireless devices. Rich Battista, Chief Executive Officer

Innovative. Yes. But dear divas and divos, from a business perspective, the exciting part is the new world 2.0 marketing strategy is producing results!

TV Guide's strategy is to create community that will extend its brand. It currently boasts one of the largest professional entertainment blog communities that includes over 62 blogs authored by writers and editors of both TV Guide magazine and tvguide.com. Comments are open - hurray! In addition, there is an opportunity for consumers to create their own blogs housed within the community. The consumer blogs seem like individual boards but that's okay it's a start in integration process.

SIdebar: Building innovative 2.0 community is old hat to March of Dimes. Patty Goldman, eBusiness Director shared the back-story of its Care Community with Diva Marketing as part of Diva Marketing's Biz Blog Profiles.

04/27/2006

Caught up this morning with Michael Neumeir of the Arketi Group. I met Michael a few months ago when I had pleasure of joining Randy Covington, Director Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina and Bram Bessoff from CompeteNet in a panel about social media for the MIT Forum-Atlanta.

The Arketi Group is doing some interesting work with business podcasting. Not only is it a nice value-add for customers but a low-key educational marketing strategy for biz development. The show notes provide links and a brief capture of the show.

The cool thing about the Arketi B2B Marketing Minute is it's a quick bite and several staff members are involved in recording. Since the casts are 'talking voices' - one person versus an interview with multiple people - a few different voices adds texture and variety. Not that the Divos' are not easy on the ears but I'm looking forward to hearing a woman's voice in the mix too. I've been told that's coming soon.